How Should Climate Change Be Taught?

Earlier this month, a coalition of national science-education advocates released a students bill of rights asserting that students across the country should be taught the scientific consensus on climate change. The consensus view held by 97 percent of scientists, according to reviews of the academic literature, holds that the planet is heating up and human activity is the primary cause.

Should there be a national set of science-education standards that mandate the teaching of the climate change consensus? Or is this a question best left to individual states, counties, schools, or teachers to decide? Are there risks involved if we don't standardize climate science education?